How can I keep a Wage Levy from happening?

A Wage Levy is when the IRS notifies your employer that you owe them money and that they would like the employer to start withholding money from your paycheck to submit to the IRS in payment for monies that the IRS feels are owed to them.

The way to keep money from being withheld from your paycheck by a Wage Levy or a Wage Garnishment is several-fold.

First, don’t owe any money to the IRS. If you don’t owe money to the IRS then clearly they can’t levy a wage or paycheck.

Secondly, make sure all of your taxes are filed. If you don’t file your taxes, the IRS may file your taxes for you, known as a Substitute for Return. When the IRS does a Substitute for Return, it is likely that will owe taxes when they finish filing it.

Thirdly, if you do file your own taxes and you owe money, you must deal with it. You can’t just leave the balance outstanding, because it will continue to accrue interest and penalties.

The IRS will expect to be paid and if you don’t pay them, they might levy a paycheck, also known as a garnishment. Also they might also levy or seize your bank account. Sometimes they issue a levy on your paycheck…and your bank account at the same time.

If you don’t owe any money to the IRS then the IRS has no right to garnish a paycheck.

So to keep a Wage Levy from happening, don’t owe money to the IRS.

If you do owe money to the IRS, enter into some kind of acceptable agreement with them so they will no longer go after you with enforced collection activity.